Question

I have been told that that I could be a carrier even though I have never developed any symptoms.

Is this true?

Answer

Thank you for your question.

The short answer is that you could be a carrier. But although this may sound alarming to you initially, I ought to explain that a high percentage of the adult population carries the herpes simplex virus (HSV) and many, like yourself, may be blissfully unaware of it.

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Genital herpes is usually caught from a sexual partner in adult life, and this transmission can occur from your partner's genitals during vaginal sex or from his or her lips during oral sex.

Until recently the medical opinion was that infection cannot transfer to the partner, provided the person who is known to have recurrent genital herpes infections avoids unprotected intercourse during an attack.

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The problem is that however careful your partner is to protect you, there is a possibility that very occasionally he might have no symptoms whatsoever of an infection yet still shed sufficient numbers of the virus to infect you during sex.

This process is known as asymptomatic shedding and it explains the fact that about six per cent of new attacks of HSV happen in people in stable relationships.

So it is possible that you have been exposed to the virus and that it is lying dormant in your tissues just as it does in the tissues of a high percentage of the adult population.

The fact that you have never experienced symptoms of any kind relating to HSV infection could mean you have not been exposed to the virus.

It could also mean that you have been exposed but have very good immunity and are unlikely to experience problems in the future.

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